Efforts by the UK government to emphasise automotive manufacturing in a bid to combat the global downturn have met with approval from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
The UK has some way to catch up with even its recent manufacturing total of around 2.4m vehicles per year to help with that rebalancing, but the SMMT believes it could at least pass the 2m mark next year.
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“What is clear is we are going to [have] a long road back,” SMMT chief executive Paul Everitt told just-auto. “What I look at is what the government is saying [which] is we need to reduce public debt and have a rebalanced economy. While demand is lower than we [would] like, it is stable. We know what we have to do to increase market share.
“Government is in a difficult position where they can do things they do. We are fully behind the idea you need to have a rebalanced economy, that manufacturing needs to play a role.”
Everitt also praised the efforts of business secretary Vince Cable and his minister Mark Prisk in taking a “non-partisan” approach to the automotive industry following the change in UK government last year. “What works we keep,” said Everitt. “We have benefited hugely from that.”
The SMMT chief also addressed the British supply chain side noting vehicle manufacturers and Tier One suppliers were more keen today to source in the UK, citing Jaguar Land Rover’s Evoque which had “a very considerable degree of UK sourcing”.
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By GlobalDataHowever, Everitt added that global vehicle manufacturers were not just looking for suppliers to provide product to the UK but also, perhaps, to other overseas facilities.
“They need the finance and support to allow them to have that scale of investment so you need the financial community to be supportive,” he said. “There is a role for the SMMT to help the financial community to understand that.”
Everitt also stressed the importance of the supply chain in the UK and to that end, the SMMT has a supply chain group that meets around five to six times a year with Nissan senior vice president Trevor Mann – “a real player” noted Everitt – chairing the division.
Part of the group’s agenda is to develop ‘meet the buyer’ events to allow vehicle manufacturers and tier one suppliers to come together with tier two and three suppliers in the UK.
